Merlin Returns

By rawr52

Enjoy!

So here it is, my next Merlin story! I hope you enjoy reading it and like it as much as the last one! So here's chapter one!

Arthur sighed as he looked out of his window at the grounds stretching out beneath him. Camelot looked beautiful in the summer. The sun was up, the flowers were blooming, the birds were singing, and the streets were crowded with people, roaming aimlessly around, and basking in the summer sun, and yet, looking out from his window, Arthur was unable to feel any sense of happiness or contentment, only impatience.

There was a simple reason for the Prince's agitation. He was lonely. He missed Merlin. He never thought he'd say it, but he had to admit, the blundering fool did have his uses. As he thought of Merlin, he felt his hand reach down of its own accord to wrap itself around the opposite wrist, where the scars still remained from the manacles that had encircled his wrists during his imprisonment in the dungeons. Anyone would have thought that these scars would have annoyed him, but no. They were the only things he had which could remind him of Merlin, the only things that stopped from wondering whether it had all been a dream.

That, and the fact that Arthur's father was furious with him. Ever since Arthur had helped his manservant to escape Camelot, his father had been in a murderous rage. As well as throwing his son into the dungeons, he had also sent a team of his best trackers to search for Merlin, which only added to Arthur's worries. However, on being released from his spell in the dungeons, he was greeted with the happy news that neither hide nor hair had been spotted of Merlin since he had left, and although this did award Arthur a certain sense of satisfaction at first, the happy feeling was overruled by the fact that his father had put him under house-arrest.

Everywhere he went, he was tailed by a guard, and even when he decided to retire to his chambers at night, at least two guards where left standing outside his door. It was extremely irksome. Sighing heavily again, Arthur took one last irritated glance out of his window, before shutting the drapes on the midday sun, and slumping down onto his bed for a long and much-needed sleep.

Meanwhile, halfway down a cliff that no mortal could possibly reach, a young man sat in the entrance of a cave, gazing down in utter boredom at the green forest scenery beneath him, his mind a million miles away. As he sat there, his legs swinging over the edge of the cave mouth and his bright blue eyes glazed over, he replayed for the hundredth time the scene of his escape from Camelot in his head. He sighed heavily.

He could still hear the howls of a young maid piercing the night as he was tied to the stake in preparation to be burnt alive. He could still hear Uther's hard, gloating words echoing through his skull as the fire was about to be lit. He could still feel the rush of power that had shot through him as his eyes shone like liquid gold, and could still see the guard flying backwards off his feet as Merlin chanted the magic words, "Hopa! Nes swelden wat leo!" He could still see the horror in Arthur's eyes as Merlin had enchanted the burning branch to fly over to him, ready to be picked from the air and used to burn Merlin at the stake. He could still hear his laughter echoing through the night air as, in a stomping of hooves, his horse rushed away from Camelot and the guards Merlin knew would soon be pursuing him, leaving the war-like sounds of sword on sword behind him. Still sighing, Merlin stood up and retreated back into the cave.

In the middle of the cave, stood a white marble pedestal, with a stone basin resting on top. Advancing on this pedestal, Merlin took the canteen from around his neck, and emptied the water into the basin. Then, he stretched his hand out over the water and mumbled a few indistinct words, his eyes shining like gold. Instantly, the water began to whorl around the basin, twisting and distorting into odd shapes and colours, until finally, the view of a dark room lay in the basin.

In this room a solitary candle sat on a table, its orange light flickering through the shadows, casting an orange glow about the room. Next to the table on which this candle resided was a four poster bed, crimson hangings draped over the sides. On the bed lay a young man, his eyes shut tight, and a frown distorting his otherwise handsome feature. This man was clearly having a troubled sleep.

Merlin sighed, took a quick glance at the man to make sure he was breathing, then released the flow of magic and turned back to the dark, empty cave. It was the second time that Merlin had checked on Arthur today, but he had to know that he was safe. If anything happened to him while Merlin was away, Merlin would hold himself personally responsible.

It was, after all, his destiny to watch over Arthur and make sure that he came to no harm, but it was a hard thing to do when Arthur was so far away and Merlin was hiding from Camelot's warrior's. He sighed again and returned to the basin. Again, muttering those same indistinguishable words, Merlin gazed intently at the water, and waited for it to take its shape. Finally the water cleared, but this time Merlin was not looking down at Arthur's chambers but his own. An old frail man stood in the doorway of Merlin's messy bedroom, the corners of his mouth turned down and a great sadness in his eyes. Merlin frowned, then with a twitch of his hand, changed the scene. He was happy to see that Gaius was safe and healthy, Merlin reflected as the water continued to swirl, but it pained him to see the old man so upset over his departure. His mind was soon turned from Gaius however, as another room came into view. In this room, were two, young, beautiful women. One of them, the taller of the two, was extremely pale, with dark wavy hair that made a huge contrast against her white face. She had fierce, piercing blue eyes with large bags beneath them, from lack of sleep. She seemed to be consoling the other woman, whom she was patting comfortingly on the bag. This second woman had brown skin and black curly hair. She had chocolate brown eyes and was decked out in a maid's apron. Merlin twitched his hand, and the voices of the two women filled the cave.

"Don't worry Gwen, he won't be gone forever. You heard what Arthur said, Merlin promised he'd be back."

"I know." Sighed the maid, looking forlorn. "I'm glad he managed to escape, but I miss him. You know?"

"I do know." Said Morgana, and she held Gwenivere's soft hand. "But he'll be back before long. I'm sure he doesn't enjoy the separation any more than we do."

Merlin smiled as he listened to Morgana's sensible words. It was nice to know that he was missed. Still smiling, Merlin twitched his hand one last time, and the water went blank.

Hey, so firstly I wanna say sorry that took so long to write. Then I wanna say thanks for all the nice reviews from my first Merlin story and I hope you enjoy reading this one. Read on :)